populism

Of Umberto Bianchi

Source: Heretically
At the end of a decidedly close electoral contest, the verdict that came out of the polls has, indiscutibilmente, rewarded all those formations that, somehow, they imitate or are themselves considered “populist”. The reference applies to both the League and the Movement 5 position, US President Trump, the transalpina Lady Marine Le Pen, That, in the most recent past for the Forza Italia of the golden times and, really, in very recent times, as if by someone risky, also for Renzi of the original "scrap" version. A term whose meaning has included a bit of everything and its opposite.
But what exactly do we mean by “populism”?? What is the exact political meaning in which this term should be placed, very fashionable nowadays? If we want to refer to the letter of the history of political movements, by “populism” we mean a series of movements that, at the end of the nineteenth century they developed in disparate contexts. In Russia, Populism was represented by the “narodnjki”, whose most authoritative exponents were the colonel and mathematics professor of the Military Academy Pyotr Lavrovič Lavrov, supporter of populism in a socialist key, together with its popularizer and idelogue, the sociologist and literary critic Nikolai Konstantinovič Mikhailovsky, having as its object the emancipation of the peasant masses, starting from the rural/"obscina" community. France instead, began with Paul Deroulede's League of Patriots, che unitasi ad un altro movimento populista di massa, Boulangism (named after Georges Boulanger, charismatic general of the French army) he became an advocate of a radical and revanchist nationalism, always connected to the increasingly widespread discontent of the masses, towards the young French parliamentary republic, much to achieve in 1888-89, after obtaining the support of the monarchists, of significant electoral victories. In the United States it was the People's Party (People’s Party), also known as Populist Party (Populist Party), summarily called "Populists”, which party was established in 1891 in the United States of America which, during the “populist” period, took hold towards the end of the 19th century. Supported by the lower classes, especially by cultivators hostile towards elites in general, had its peak between 1892 and the 1896. Read More